


time heals all wounds

by isloremipsumafterall



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February Trope Bingo, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 20:18:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6092848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isloremipsumafterall/pseuds/isloremipsumafterall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deanna is sent back to beginning, to a time where Tasha is still alive and has to make the choice to either walk away or save her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	time heals all wounds

Time anomalies almost felt like misnamed concept given how often the Enterprise encounter them. Deanna hadn’t been on the bridge given it had been her day off but at hearing the red alert and feeling the panic rising the crew she had staggered her way to the turbolift as the ship rocked, hitting her combadge to gather more information from the bridge.

 

Right as she entered the turbolift the ship shifted enough that she couldn’t catch her balance, slamming against the wall of the lift with a groan. The lift let out a strange creak that it shouldn’t have and Deanna’s eyes widened as it began to shudder and fall. A bright light encompassed her as she screamed, blinding her and then-

 

Nothing. There was nothing.

 

~~

 

The first thing she sensed before she opened her eyes was worry, the second was the hand she felt on top of her own.

 

She groaned a little as she opened her eyes, blinking against the harsh light of the medbay. Someone must have found her in the turbolift then and brought her here, it was probably Beverly she was sensing. Or perhaps Will or one of the others had come to keep her company.

 

Deanna looked over to see who it was and from her other side she could hear Beverly approaching and saying “You’re awake! Deanna how do you feel?”

 

She didn’t answer Beverly, instead staring at the person who was holding her hand, wondering if perhaps she had hit her head harder than expected.

 

“Deanna?” The person asked softly, voice full of worry.

 

Deanna blinked again but the person didn’t leave her vision and certainly felt real.

 

“Tasha.” She whispered in shock and then felt a hyrdospray pressed against her neck and surrendered back into sleep.

 

~~

 

“What year is it?” Deanna asked before Beverly could ask her anything. Tasha was nowhere to be seen much to her distress. Perhaps it had just all been in her head after all.

 

“2364, Deanna how are you feeling?” Beverly reached to place a hand on her shoulder as Deanna laughed.

 

“I’m fine Beverly.” Deanna ran a hand through her hair and considered telling Beverly what had happened to her. On one hand she could explain the temporal anomaly that had clearly sent her back and strangely in her past body, though stranger things had indeed happened. On the other hand…

 

The door opened and Tasha stepped through, spotting Deanna in her sitting position and smiled widely, something Deanna readily returned as she watched Tasha walk towards her, mercifully alive.

 

Her heart hurt at that thought, the memory of feeling Tasha’s life fade from her senses as Armus extinguished it with hardly any thought to the pain it caused those around them. She couldn’t help but tentatively reach out with her empathic powers to brush lightly against what Tasha was feeling, sensing the relief that Deanna was okay.

 

It was soothing the feelings in which Tasha broadcasted readily, the reminder that she was so alive and in front of Deanna.

 

When she was close enough Deanna reached out to pull Tasha into a hug, pressing her nose to Tasha’s neck and squeezing her eyes shut so she didn’t cry. Tasha’s arms came up to hug her back, her cheek pressing to Deanna’s hair and she murmured comfort to Deanna.

 

Deanna had no doubt that Tasha had exchanged a worried glance to Beverly as she was doing so and that Beverly was still monitoring her vitals to take a look at any changes.

 

“Deanna,” Beverly asked as she pulled back, “Is there something we should know?”

 

Deanna stared at Tasha who was watching her back with concern in her blue eyes.

 

The ‘no’ was at the tip of her tongue. It’d be so easy then to change things, to have Tasha alive still and here next to her, to laugh alongside her on away missions and-

 

Deanna swallowed heavily, the duty of a Starfleet officer too pressing.

 

“Call the captain.” She said, trying and failing to keep the misery from her voice.

 

Tasha squeezed her shoulder in comfort, making Deanna look up and smile weakly at her.

 

“There’s something he needs to know.”

 

~~

 

Deanna was grateful that Picard readily heard her out when it came to what had happened as she explained the anomaly.

 

“We were in this region in space when it occurred,” Deanna said and then glanced to her side where Tasha had insisted on staying since there could have been a threat to the ship.

 

“It is likely that is what caused the switch.” Data chimed in, his head slightly tilted to the side as he considered the variables, “When the turbo lift encountered the anomaly at the precise moment that our timelines Counselor Troi entered it.”

 

After a few discussions Data and Geordi had come to the conclusion that the two Deanna’s of the timelines had been altered into each other’s timeline, explaining why Deanna did still look the same as she had when she left to go to the bridge and why she hadn’t come across her past self.

 

“How do we reverse it?” Picard asked, sighing and Deanna could sense the exhaustion from him.

 

Data began offering several suggestions and Deanna knew she should have been listening but instead glanced back at Tasha.

 

“It’ll be okay.” Tasha promised in a low whisper so they didn’t interrupt Data, “We’ll get you back.”

 

Deanna laughed quietly, “I don’t doubt it, I suspect my Data is now working on the same solution.” Deanna frowned, “I hope that my past self is all right.” Aside from the turbolift accident she could imagine the shock her past self must have been feeling.

 

Likely as soon as they discovered she was from the past they’d have to keep quiet about everything that had happened to not disrupt the timeline as Deanna herself wasn’t saying anything. Still she wondered if her past self had seen Worf as the Security Chief and reached out across the ship looking for Tasha, for her friend who should have been there and felt the immense loneliness when finding nothing.

 

“You need some rest,” Tasha cut into her thoughts, standing and nodding at the Captain, “With your permission sir I think Deanna could use some sleep.”

 

Picard looked over at her and his lips slightly quirked upwards, “Of course, I believe you know the way to your quarters.”

 

Deanna smiled widely, “I can say that much hasn’t changed.”

 

“Yes,” Picard inclined his head, “Just don’t tell us too much that has.”

 

Deanna nodded at him, leaving with Tasha. She was tempted to tell the other woman that she didn’t need an escort but the presence of Tasha was too much to resist so Deanna merely smiled at her as they walked towards the turbolift.

 

“Do you need anything?” Tasha asked once they had reached her room, hovering in Deanna’s living area as the door shut behind them.

 

“Chocolate.” Deanna said definitively and Tasha grinned.

 

“It’s nice to see some things don’t change.” Tasha joked, stepping over to the replicator and ordering a chocolate sundae. She placed it in front of Deanna and then took a seat on the couch beside her. “You’re taking this time travel situation rather well.” Tasha noted, “I’d ask if we go through it a lot but…”

 

“Temporal Prime Directive.” Deanna intoned with her. “The life of a Starfleet officer.”

 

She took a scoop of the sundae, letting the taste of simulated chocolate explode on her tongue. It wasn’t the real thing but it would do.

 

Next to her Tasha made a face, “I think I’d still fight it. Change something.”

 

Deanna idly thought about Sela, about an alternate Tasha who changed the course of the future. The ice cream suddenly felt tasteless and she dropped the spoon back into the bowl with a sigh.

 

“That bad?” Tasha raised an eyebrow at the action.

 

It would be so easy to tell her, Deanna thought, there was still time, Tasha could still be saved.

 

Instead she shut her eyes and leaned against the couch, Tasha’s arm fell over her shoulder and dragged her into a halfway hug.

 

“It’s going to be okay.” Tasha told her again and Deanna held in the choked laugh as she felt the certainty from Tasha.

 

She let herself fall asleep on the couch, every one of her senses away of Tasha next to her and pretended that in the future she could still have this.

 

~~

 

The turbolift certainly didn’t look like anything special that would carry her back to her timeline.

 

“Are we sure this will work?” Tasha voiced her thoughts, staring at the turbolift with skepticism.

 

“We’ve modified it based on the tachyon frequency we picked up from Counselor Troi,” Geordi explained and clapped her on the shoulder, smiling comfortingly, “All you have to do is get in.”

 

Deanna took a deep breath and smiled as cheerfully as she could. “Thank you Geordi.”

 

She nodded at Picard, Will, and Beverly as she took a step forward and then paused. Without thinking much of it she reached out to hug Tasha, trying to memorize every little thing she could.

 

“Good luck.” Tasha smiled at her when she pulled back to take a step next to Worf.

 

Deanna gave her one last lookover before she stepped into the turbolift and the door shut behind her.

 

“Bridge.” She told the computer in a clear voice and the turbolift shuddered a little with whatever changes Geordi and Data had applied to it.

 

Like before there was bright light, a flash of something indescribable, but this time Deanna didn’t pass out, just holding on to the bars of the turbolift and breathing through it.

 

It faded and came to a stop, the doors opening and Deanna stumbled onto the bridge with a blink.

 

“It…didn’t work then.” She stated, seeing Tasha standing at the Ops center.

 

“Deanna?” Tasha rushed forward, “What year is it?”

 

Deanna raised an eyebrow at her, “I think that’s my question.”

 

Her brow furrowed as she began to take in the uniform that Tasha was wearing, the style different than the ones they had worn their first two years.

 

“Oh.” She said and swallowed heavily.

 

“Your past self just disappeared,” Tasha jerked her head towards the chair Deanna sat at as the others began to crowd around her. “Your doing I’m guessing?” Tasha smirked, looking at her with those blue eyes that Deanna thought she might never see again.

 

“Captain,” Deanna said weakly, “I believe I might have altered a significant event.”

 

Picard looked about as happy with that news as the emotions she felt from him.

 

~~

 

“Your trip delayed ours to Vagra II.” Picard stated as they tried to reconcile the timeline.

 

Deanna stared at the screen, looking over missions reports of the last few years.

 

“But…nothing else has changed.” Deanna frowned at the padd. Somehow despite Tasha remaining Chief of Security nothing much had altered, Worf had taken over as Tactical Officer, Geordi had been offered Chief Engineering, Pulaski had come aboard in the year the Beverly left, and all their missions as such had remained the mostly the same. Just with Tasha’s name added here and there.

 

“I must admit I’m curious as to the change you’ve caused then Counselor.” Picard looked at her, crossing his fingers and resting them on the desk.

 

Her shoulders fell as she realized she’d have to tell her Captain what had been altered.

 

“Tasha Yar died on Varga II.” Deanna stated, emotionlessly, her eyes glazing over in the memory.

 

Picard jerked slightly like he’d been slapped by that information, that a high ranking officer of his crew had been killed.

 

The two of them fell silent, each debating what to say and where to go from there.

 

“I’ll submit this with the Department of Temporal Investigations.” Picard said quietly, taking the padd from Deanna’s hands. “However, given that they are still looking into the situations with the first Enterprise perhaps this will not make their records.”

 

Deanna hesitated and then stood, “Permission to be dismissed sir.”

 

“Permission granted.”

 

Without another word Deanna walked out and to the turbolift, the crew had changed shifts around her to the beta shift and Tasha was nowhere in sight.

 

“Computer,” She asked when she entered, “Locate Lieutenant Yar.”

 

“Lieutenant Yar is in Counselor Troi’s quarters.” The computer replied and Deanna tried not to laugh at the situation, requesting to be taken to Deck 9.

 

She entered, seeing Tasha reading a padd on her couch, a chocolate sundae slightly melting on the table in front of her.

 

“I thought you could use it,” Tasha explained when she caught sight of Deanna looking at it.

 

“I could use a few more.” Deanna admitted, taking the seat next to Tasha in a way that felt like déjà vu.

 

It was likewise familiar that Tasha threw an arm around her shoulder in comfort as she ate, Deanna glancing at her from the corner of her eye.

 

“Tasha…” Deanna began, clearing her throat and setting the bowl of ice cream down, “Are we something?”

 

That startled Tasha, the genuine surprise leaking through that Deanna could sense, and Tasha withdrew her arm, moving away.

 

“No.” Tasha said quickly, her cheeks flushing at the awkwardness of the situation.

 

Deanna could sense the conflicting thoughts from Tasha and smiled lightly, “Can we be?”

 

Tasha stopped, staring at her.

 

“I missed you.” Deanna began, “You don’t understand how much.” She reached out to push the bangs away from Tasha’s eyes, “It’s been…a long time.”

 

She wasn’t sure how much she’d tell Tasha – if she’d ever tell Tasha – but in the here and now she offered what explanation she could.

 

“Deanna,” Tasha sucked a sharp breath in, there was a want in her eyes that Deanna recognized, “We never…you never…said anything.”

 

“I am now.” Deanna said, pushing away all the pain and loss that Tasha’s name used to cause her, letting it all be nightmare to be forgotten. “Tasha?”

 

She let Tasha’s name hang in the air between them as a question, the next move up to her and then Tasha began to smile, laughing loudly and leaned in to rest her head against Deanna’s.

 

“I’ll take that as yes,” Deanna said, bemused and they leaned back against the couch and into each other’s spaces, tentatively closing the gaps between them.

 

Tasha’s heartbeat resounded in her ears as Deanna rested her head on her chest, a sound that Deanna swore she would never tire of.

 

“Welcome back.” Deanna whispered so quiet that Tasha couldn’t hear her and she shut her eyes to drift off, knowing that Tasha would still be there when she woke.


End file.
